Land Administration Systems and Legal Framework Reform Focussing on Constitutional Principles in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

A nation’s constitution should be overtly pro-poor in its objectives. These should include how constitutional principles support land administration systems and their legal frameworks, their reform. Constitutions have, been long neglected. There is a need within developing nations to embed pro-poor objectives into land administration systems and their legal frameworks such that reforms meet the needs of the most vulnerable in society. Prior to reform of any system, understanding of that system is imperative. However, there is a lack of a context-specific frameworks to assess existing land administration systems in conjunction with constitutional law prior to a reform intervention. To develop a conceptual framework for the thorough evaluation of a country’s constitution in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, secondary data and a text-based methodology were used. Sampling logic was applied to gather and analyse the data. A conceptual framework for accessing land administration systems and their legal frameworks, for use prior to land administration systems reform initiatives, is proposed in this chapter. To deliver pro-poor land administration systems and their legal frameworks, three fundamental constitutional tenets—human rights, the rule of law, and legal pluralism—were identified and inform the assessment of various country constitutions.